In 'Easy A,' this schoolgirl makes the grade

It might be a stretch to call "Easy A" a literate, subversive teen comedy, though it frequently refers to Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" to underscore a modern-day story about a teenage girl falsely branded a harlot. Like many a high-school book report, the movie is slightly less insightful than it could be, but it deserves points for at least addressing notions of sexual double standards and social pressure.

It's a fun, fizzy movie, thanks largely to Emma Stone ("Zombieland") as Olive Penderghast, a bright but otherwise average teenager. Olive feels so average, in fact, that she fabricates a story about losing her virginity just to impress her saucy friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka). The lie spreads as fast as thumbs can type, but guess what? Olive's social status suddenly skyrockets.

It makes sense that teenagers raised on look-at-me-naked videos would put a sexually active girl on a pedestal rather than in the stockade. But there's a line, and Olive crosses it by becoming a faux hooker, allowing various guys to brag about conquering her in exchange for payment (one boy lamely proffers a Home Depot gift card). Appalled, the school's resident Christian zealot (Amanda Bynes) mounts a Colonial-style campaign to drum Olive out of school.

"Easy A" stays bubbly even when it ought to have more bite, but it's hard to argue with the stellar supporting cast (including Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive's laissez-faire parents) and the freckly, feisty Stone. If anything, Stone makes Olive so appealing that it's hard to believe she wasn't already fighting off the boys. Or at least demanding American Express.